Graphic: Bill Edgar's tactical analysis

Newcastle United fans have not stopped grinning uncontrollably since "King Kev" swept back into St James’ Park, but there was no doubt about who was wearing the widest smile on Saturday night.

Just four days after Emmanuel Adebayor’s confrontation with a team-mate was meticulously pored over in the hunt for clues to the spilt blood, the Arsenal forward returned to the limelight with two striking blows against Newcastle — only this time, the camera lens and his manager did catch the action.

Adebayor may lack the big-name extravagance and mood swings of Thierry Henry, the intensity and finesse of Dennis Bergkamp or the brute force of Alan Shearer to be classed among the very best, but few can argue with his recent scoring record. Eight goals in six matches, 18 for the season and, on the evidence of the second half of this fourth-round tie, he has never looked as threatening since his arrival at the club two years ago — incidentally in the same week as the high-profile entrance of Theo Walcott, whose career has gone in the other direction.

It says much about Adebayor that as many questions were asked about Nicklas Bendtner’s personality after their eyeball-to-eyeball skirmish on the pitch at White Hart Lane on Tuesday. This is the only team that Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, has produced without an ego on the pitch — and then along comes Bendtner, spilling over with confidence. Wenger maintains that no blows were struck to explain why Bendtner appeared to have a bloody nose, but he fined the forwards two weeks’ wages for an incident that he sarcastically said had spoilt the country’s "virgin view of the game".

Adebayor said of the dispute: "I tried to motivate him [Bendtner] and he took it in the wrong way. Then I did a little bit — I have to work at that as well. We need to talk sometimes to wake ourselves up and that is what we have done. It is behind us. I wear No 25, he is No 26, so we sit very close in the dressing-room. Sometimes things like that happen. A child can fight with his father and they are still friends. On Tuesday, things went wrong."

The knockout blow of losing 5-1 to Tottenham Hotspur had left its mark. Wenger reverted to his strongest available side on Saturday, but they staggered around dazed and confused in the first half. Adebayor woke them after half-time when he weaved inside four defenders to thump the ball into the corner. Then he burst through on a diagonal run to add a second, with the help of Eduardo da Silva blocking a defender. Nicky Butt headed an own goal at the end.

The result prolongs Wenger’s fabulous run in a competition that he has won four times since arriving at the club 12 years ago, when Kevin Keegan was in the latter stages of his first stint as Newcastle manager. His return has injected some belief, but that disappeared when they fell behind. Damien Duff hounded Justin Hoyte, Michael Owen made some promising runs and Caçapa was strong, but they lack creativity from midfield.

"The big problem is our final pass," Keegan said. "If you don’t create chances, forwards think, ‘When am I going to get some service?’ Then if you keep giving them the ball back, they are suddenly going to plant one in the net and then, if there had been another ten minutes, you could see them getting another two. There is a lot to play for this season — the biggest being pride. You would have thought we were a top-four side for a lot of stages, but we couldn’t sustain it."

Arsenal (4-4-2) J Lehmann 7 J Hoyte 5 W Gallas 8 P Senderos 6 G Clichy 8 T Rosicky 5 F Fàbregas 6 M Flamini 6 A Diaby 6 T Walcott 5 E Adebayor 8. Substitutes: Eduardo da Silva 6 (for Rosicky, 10min), Gilberto Silva (for Diaby, 76), A Hleb (for Walcott, 76). Not used: L Fabianski, N Bendtner. Next: Newcastle United (h)

Newcastle (4-4-2) S Given 7 S Carr 6 S Taylor 6 Caçapa Y 8 J Enrique 5 J Milner 6 N Butt 6 C N’Zogbia 6 D Duff 8 A Smith 6 M Owen 6. Substitutes: D Rozehnal (for Enrique, 76), K LuaLua (for Duff, 82). Not used: S Harper, D Edgar, A Carroll. Next: Arsenal (a)

Referee M Atkinson
Attendance 60,046

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